Product Designer II at Lightcast

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Product Designer II Company: Lightcast Location: Remote (Work From Home) US Job Type: Full Time Category: Product Design / UX/UI Operations Date Posted: 2025-08-01 Experience Level: Mid-Level (2-5 years) Remote Status: Fully Remote

🚀 Role Summary

This role is a mid-level Product Designer position focused on the end-to-end design process for digital products.
The designer will be embedded in cross-functional "pod" teams, collaborating closely with Product Managers, Engineers, Analysts, and Researchers to deliver business value.
A key aspect of the role involves contributing to and evolving Lightcast's enterprise design system, ensuring consistency and scalability across the product suite.
The position requires a strong understanding of user-centered design principles, coupled with the ability to translate insights into tangible design solutions, from ideation to high-fidelity execution.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the input data specifies "Product Designer II," the responsibilities and experience level (2-5 years) align with a mid-level individual contributor role. The "Operations" aspect is interpreted through the lens of design systems management, process efficiency in design execution, and collaboration within cross-functional operational teams.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

Collaborate with cross-functional teams (Product, Engineering, Analytics, Brand) to identify user needs and business opportunities, leveraging both qualitative and quantitative data insights.
Translate research findings and business requirements into user-centered design solutions, creating artifacts such as sketches, wireframes, interactive prototypes, and high-fidelity visual designs.
Design exceptional user interfaces (UI), visual aesthetics, and interaction patterns, ensuring content-first experiences that are responsive and accessible across various devices and platforms.
Work closely with engineering teams throughout the development lifecycle to ensure design feasibility, accuracy, and successful implementation of design specifications.
Conduct or support user experience (UX) research, including moderated and unmoderated usability testing, to validate design concepts and gather feedback for iterative improvements.
Champion a culture of continuous product improvement by using new insights to refine existing user experiences and proactively identify areas for enhancement.
Actively contribute to the development, maintenance, and evolution of Lightcast's design systems and reusable component libraries to promote consistency, scalability, and efficient implementation across all products.
Clearly articulate and present design rationale, trade-offs, and recommendations to cross-functional stakeholders and team members to foster strong decision-making and alignment.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a deep integration into product development workflows, emphasizing the operational aspects of design execution, system maintenance, and cross-functional collaboration critical in a product-centric organization.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education:

Bachelor's degree in Graphic Design, Interaction Design, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), or a closely related design discipline.

Experience:

2-5 years of progressive professional experience in product design, UI/UX design, or a similar role within the digital product or technology sector.

Required Skills:

User-Centered Design: Proven ability to apply user-centered design principles to create intuitive and effective user experiences.
Prototyping & Wireframing: Proficiency in creating wireframes, user flows, and interactive prototypes to visualize and test design concepts.
UX Research: Experience conducting or collaborating on UX research methodologies (e.g., usability testing, user interviews) to inform design decisions.
Design Systems: Demonstrated experience in contributing to, maintaining, or utilizing design systems and component libraries for consistency and scalability.
Visual & Interaction Design: Strong skills in visual design, UI layout, typography, color theory, and interaction design principles.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Ability to effectively partner with product managers, engineers, researchers, and brand teams in a collaborative environment.
Responsive & Accessible Design: Understanding of designing for various screen sizes and ensuring adherence to accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG).
Stakeholder Communication: Excellent verbal and written communication skills for presenting design rationale and collaborating with diverse stakeholders.
Figma/Sketch/Adobe XD: Proficiency with industry-standard design and prototyping tools.

Preferred Skills:

Mentoring: Experience mentoring junior designers or providing design guidance to team members.
Content-First Design: Experience in crafting content-first user experiences.
Agile/Scrum Methodologies: Familiarity with agile development processes and working within Scrum teams.
Data-Informed Design: Ability to interpret quantitative data (e.g., analytics, A/B test results) to drive design improvements.
Animation/Motion Design: Basic understanding or experience with motion design principles to enhance user interactions.

📝 Enhancement Note: The experience level and skill set suggest a designer who can operate autonomously within a team, contributing to both strategic design thinking and tactical execution, with a particular emphasis on design system management and cross-functional operational integration.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

Showcase a minimum of 2-3 comprehensive case studies demonstrating the full product design lifecycle, from problem definition to final solution.
Clearly articulate your role and contributions within each project, especially highlighting collaborative efforts with cross-functional teams.
Include examples of user research, ideation processes (sketches, wireframes), prototyping, and high-fidelity visual designs.
Demonstrate how you've incorporated user feedback and data insights to iterate on designs and improve outcomes.
Highlight any experience with design systems, component libraries, or efforts to ensure design consistency and scalability across products.

Process Documentation:

Case studies should clearly outline the design process followed, including problem definition, user research methods, ideation techniques, prototyping tools used, and testing procedures.
Illustrate how design decisions were made, linking them back to user needs, business objectives, and available data.
Provide evidence of collaboration with engineering and product management, detailing how design requirements were communicated and implemented.
Show examples of how designs were iterated upon based on feedback, usability testing, or performance metrics.

📝 Enhancement Note: A strong portfolio is critical for this role, as it will be the primary method for assessing design skills, problem-solving approach, and ability to work within operational product development frameworks. Emphasis should be placed on process, collaboration, and demonstrable impact.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

Based on industry benchmarks for a Product Designer II (2-5 years experience) in the US, and considering the fully remote nature, a competitive salary range is estimated between $85,000 - $125,000 annually. This range can vary based on specific location within the US, candidate experience, and alignment with required skills.

Benefits:

Comprehensive Health, Dental, and Vision Insurance
401(k) Retirement Plan with Company Match
Generous Paid Time Off (PTO) and Holidays
Professional Development and Learning Opportunities (e.g., conferences, workshops, online courses)
Remote Work Stipend or Home Office Setup Support
Potential for Stock Options or Performance Bonuses
Life and Disability Insurance

Working Hours:

Standard full-time position, typically around 40 hours per week.
While core hours may be established for team collaboration and meetings, there is likely flexibility in daily scheduling, accommodating a fully remote work environment.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary estimate is based on aggregated data from reputable compensation platforms for similar roles in the US tech industry, adjusted for the specified experience level and remote work arrangement. Benefits are typical for a tech company offering a comprehensive package to attract and retain talent.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Labor Market Insights / Data Analytics / Economic Intelligence Company Size: Lightcast is a growing global leader in its field. While the exact employee count isn't provided, the mention of global headquarters and offices in multiple continents suggests a significant and expanding organization, likely ranging from 200-1000+ employees. This size offers a balance of established processes and opportunities for individual impact. Founded: Lightcast (formerly Emsi Burning Glass) has a history rooted in data analytics and labor market expertise, with significant evolution and integration of capabilities over the years. Understanding its founding principles in data-driven insights can inform the company's operational approach.

Team Structure:

The design team is centralized within the Product organization, ensuring a unified approach to user experience across all products.
Designers are also integrated into "pod" teams, which are cross-functional units comprising Product Managers, Developers, Analysts, and Researchers. This structure fosters a highly collaborative and agile product development environment.
This blended model means designers report functionally to design leadership but operationally work as integral members of product-focused teams.

Methodology:

Data-Driven Decision Making: Expect a strong emphasis on using qualitative and quantitative data to inform design choices, validate hypotheses, and measure impact.
User-Centricity: The core of the design philosophy revolves around understanding and serving user needs through iterative design and research.
Collaborative Workflow: The "pod" team structure necessitates close, continuous collaboration across disciplines to ensure seamless product development and execution.
Design System Governance: A key operational aspect is the consistent application and evolution of the design system to maintain product coherence and development efficiency.

Company Website: https://www.lightcast.io/

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's focus on labor market insights suggests a data-rich environment where design plays a crucial role in making complex information accessible and actionable. The team structure emphasizes operational agility and integration.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: Product Designer II represents a mid-level individual contributor role. The designer is expected to manage their own projects, contribute significantly to team goals, and begin influencing design direction and processes. The "II" designation implies a step up from an entry-level position, with greater autonomy and responsibility.

Reporting Structure:

The designer will be part of a centralized design team, likely reporting to a Design Lead or Head of Design.
Within their assigned "pod" team, they will work closely with a Product Manager and Engineering Lead, forming a core operational unit for a specific product line or feature set.

Operations Impact:

Product Designers at Lightcast have a direct impact on how users interact with and derive value from labor market data.
By creating intuitive and efficient user experiences, designers enable customers (businesses, governments, educational institutions) to make better decisions regarding workforce development, talent acquisition, and economic planning.
Contributions to the design system directly impact development efficiency, product consistency, and the overall scalability of Lightcast's offerings.

Growth Opportunities:

Senior Product Designer: Progression to a Senior Product Designer role, taking on more complex projects, leading design initiatives, and mentoring junior team members.
Design Lead/Management: Opportunity to move into leadership roles, managing a design team or a specific product area's design strategy.
Specialization: Deepen expertise in specific areas like UX research, interaction design, or design systems architecture.
Cross-Functional Moves: Potential to leverage design thinking and user advocacy skills in product management or user research roles.

📝 Enhancement Note: The career path suggests opportunities for both deepening technical design skills and moving into leadership, with a strong emphasis on contributing to the operational efficiency and strategic direction of product development.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Fully Remote. This means the primary work environment is a home office. Office Location(s): While Lightcast has global offices, this specific role is designated as "Remote (Work From Home) US," indicating candidates can be based anywhere within the United States.

Workspace Context:

Digital Collaboration: The work environment relies heavily on digital collaboration tools (e.g., Slack, Zoom, Miro, Figma) for communication, brainstorming, and design reviews.
Team Interaction: While remote, the "pod" team structure encourages regular interaction with colleagues through scheduled meetings, asynchronous communication, and virtual collaboration sessions.
Design System Focus: Opportunities to engage with and contribute to the design system will be facilitated through shared digital repositories and collaborative design sessions.

Work Schedule:

Primarily a standard 40-hour work week.
Flexibility in daily start and end times is expected, allowing individuals to manage their schedules effectively, provided core collaboration hours are met and project deadlines are achieved. This flexibility is key for operational efficiency in a distributed team.

📝 Enhancement Note: The fully remote nature requires strong self-management and proactive communication skills. The emphasis on "pod" teams suggests a structured yet flexible approach to remote work, prioritizing collaboration and output.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

Initial Screening: A recruiter or hiring manager will review applications and resumes, focusing on relevant experience and portfolio quality.
Portfolio Review & Call: Candidates selected for further consideration will likely have a call with a Design Lead or hiring manager to discuss their portfolio in detail. This is where your design process, problem-solving approach, and collaboration skills will be assessed.
Technical/Design Challenge: Expect a design exercise or case study, either take-home or live, to evaluate your practical design skills, ability to work with constraints, and communication of design rationale.
Cross-Functional Team Interviews: Interviews with members of a "pod" team (Product Manager, Engineer, Researcher) to assess collaboration, communication, and cultural fit within an operational product team.
Final Interview: Potentially an interview with a senior leader (e.g., Head of Product, VP of Design) to discuss strategic thinking and long-term vision.

Portfolio Review Tips:

Curate Selectively: Choose 3-4 of your strongest projects that best showcase your skills and experience relevant to the job description.
Tell a Story: For each project, clearly articulate the problem, your role, the process you followed, the challenges you faced, your solutions, and the impact of your work. Use visuals to support your narrative.
Highlight Process: Emphasize your design thinking, research methodologies, and iterative approach. Show your work from ideation through to final execution.
Showcase Collaboration: If possible, include examples or discuss how you collaborated with engineers, product managers, and other stakeholders.
Design System Experience: Clearly present any work related to design systems, component libraries, or efforts to ensure design consistency.
Data & Metrics: If available, quantify the impact of your designs using data, metrics, or user feedback.

Challenge Preparation:

Understand the Brief: Carefully read and understand the prompt for any design challenge. Ask clarifying questions if needed.
Time Management: Allocate your time wisely across research, ideation, design, and presentation.
Focus on Process: Even if you can't complete a fully polished deliverable, clearly articulate your thought process and the steps you would take.
Presentation Skills: Practice presenting your work clearly, concisely, and confidently, explaining your rationale and design decisions.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process is designed to evaluate not just design skill but also the ability to operate effectively within a collaborative, data-driven product development team. A well-prepared portfolio is the most critical component for success.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

Design & Prototyping: Figma (highly probable as industry standard), Sketch, Adobe XD.
Collaboration & Communication: Slack, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Workspace.
Project Management & Workflow: Jira, Asana, Trello, Monday.com.
User Research & Testing: UserTesting.com, Lookback, Hotjar, Maze.

Analytics & Reporting:

Product Analytics: Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude.
Data Visualization/Dashboards: Tableau, Looker, Power BI (less likely for design, but useful for understanding data).

CRM & Automation:

CRM: Salesforce, HubSpot (less direct for designers, but understanding data flow is beneficial).
Integration & API Concepts: Familiarity with how data flows between systems can be advantageous.

📝 Enhancement Note: Proficiency in a modern design tool like Figma is almost certainly a requirement. Familiarity with collaboration and project management tools is essential for operating within the cross-functional "pod" structure. Understanding analytics tools helps designers make data-informed decisions.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

Data-Driven: Decisions are grounded in user feedback, market analysis, and product performance metrics.
Collaborative: Strong emphasis on teamwork, open communication, and shared ownership within cross-functional teams.
User-Focused: Deep commitment to understanding and solving user problems through thoughtful design.
Iterative: Embraces continuous improvement, learning from mistakes, and adapting designs based on new insights.
Ownership & Accountability: Designers are expected to take ownership of their projects and deliver high-quality results.
Efficiency: Strives for efficient processes, including the use of design systems to streamline development and ensure consistency.

Collaboration Style:

Integrated Pods: Designers work as embedded members of product teams, fostering close daily collaboration with PMs, engineers, and researchers.
Open Feedback: A culture of constructive feedback is encouraged, both for design critiques and process improvements.
Knowledge Sharing: Expect opportunities to share learnings, best practices, and design patterns, particularly concerning the design system.
Agile Mindset: Works within agile frameworks, emphasizing adaptability and responsiveness to changing requirements and insights.

📝 Enhancement Note: The culture likely values proactive individuals who can integrate seamlessly into fast-paced, cross-functional product development teams, contributing to both the user experience and the operational efficiency of product delivery.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

Balancing Design System Consistency with Feature Innovation: Ensuring the design system supports new feature development without becoming overly restrictive.
Remote Collaboration Effectiveness: Maintaining strong team cohesion and effective communication in a fully remote setting.
Translating Complex Data into Simple Interfaces: Making sophisticated labor market data easily understandable and actionable for diverse user groups.
Prioritization in a Fast-Paced Environment: Managing multiple project streams and shifting priorities effectively within cross-functional teams.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

Design System Expertise: Opportunity to become a key contributor to a growing enterprise design system, gaining specialized skills.
Cross-Functional Skill Development: Exposure to product management, data analysis, and engineering workflows enhances overall product development understanding.
Industry Conferences & Training: Access to professional development resources to stay current with design trends, tools, and methodologies.
Mentorship: Opportunities to learn from senior designers and potentially mentor junior team members.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges are typical for a growing tech company with a focus on complex data products. The growth opportunities are strong for designers looking to develop specialized skills in design systems and gain broad product development experience.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

"Tell me about a time you had to balance user needs with business requirements. How did you approach it?" (Focus on your decision-making process, stakeholder management, and iterative approach).
"Describe your experience with design systems. What makes a design system successful, and how do you contribute to its evolution?" (Highlight your understanding of scalability, consistency, and collaborative maintenance).
"Walk me through a project where you used data or user research to significantly change your design direction." (Emphasize your research methodology, data analysis, and how you translated insights into design improvements).
"How do you collaborate with engineers and product managers? Describe a situation where you had a disagreement and how you resolved it." (Focus on communication, empathy, and finding mutually beneficial solutions).
"Imagine you need to design a new feature for our labor market insights platform. What are the first steps you would take?" (Demonstrate your approach to problem definition, user research, and ideation).

Company & Culture Questions:

Be prepared to discuss why you are interested in Lightcast and its mission.
Research Lightcast's products and target users to show genuine interest and understanding.
Think about how your personal working style and values align with the company's emphasis on data, collaboration, and user-centricity.

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

Structure: Organize your presentation logically: Problem -> Research -> Ideation -> Solution (with visuals) -> Impact.
Clarity: Clearly articulate your thought process and the "why" behind your design decisions.
Conciseness: Be mindful of time. Focus on the most impactful aspects of each project.
Engagement: Be ready to answer questions about your work and engage in a dialogue with the interviewers.
Design System Showcase: If you have relevant experience, be prepared to specifically discuss your contributions or use of design systems.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation should focus on demonstrating a strong design process, effective collaboration skills, and an understanding of how design contributes to business objectives and operational efficiency within a product team.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Product Designer II position:

Submit your resume and a link to your online portfolio through the Lightcast careers portal.
Portfolio Prioritization: Ensure your portfolio clearly showcases 2-3 strong case studies that highlight your end-to-end design process, collaboration with cross-functional teams, and any experience with design systems. Tailor the case study selection to match the responsibilities outlined in the job description.
Resume Optimization: Update your resume to explicitly mention experience with UI/UX design, prototyping, user research, design systems, and collaboration within agile or cross-functional product teams. Quantify achievements where possible.
Company Research: Familiarize yourself with Lightcast's mission, products, and the labor market insights industry. Understand how design contributes to their business goals.
Interview Practice: Prepare to discuss your portfolio projects in detail, focusing on your design process, problem-solving approach, and how you work with others. Practice answering common product design interview questions.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.

Product Designer II